On October 6, 2005, Howard Dean
said on National Public Radio (Howard Dean quote at the end) that the Democratic Party needs to build its program and agenda on four basic themes:
* Strong national defense
* Fiscal responsibility
* Health care costs and availability
* Education
I completely agree, both with the goal of a simple, widely agreed-upon message, and with his choice of four themes. So I played around with them and came up with an acronym that expresses the concepts in a nutshell:
* *S*trong defense
* *U*niversal access to health care
* *R*esponsible fiscal policy
* *E*ducation to grow jobs and the economy
As in: The Democratic Party is
SURE about America's future. The Democratic Party wants America to be
SURE and secure. The Democratic Party has a
SURE plan to make us safe and strong in a changing world.
Whatever the acronym, or even acronym-free, it makes a world of sense to emphasize a few basic themes that most Democrats, and many Independents and Republicans can agree on. Once the country is out of danger and back on track, we can tackle (in a more fairly-balanced Congress and in the State legislatures) other critical issues, some of which divide, rather than unite us. Governor Dean is right: "We can do better."
On the Maslow need hierarchy health, safety, food and shelter come first. We need to keep it simple, focus on the absolute basics, put first things first, and WIN. Then we'll be more able to start working on social issues, accomplishment and self-expression.
(N.B. Demographically speaking, I'm a middle-aged, middle-class, baby boomer, working mom of two teenagers.)